I know prices vary by area but I had three shingles blow off my roof during a recent storm... I bought three asphalt shingles but I chickened out when I tried to climb up on the roof. A woman I work with has a husband who owns a roofing company less than a mile from my house, so I called the guy and he agreed to fix the shingles using the shingles I bought.

I didn't ask for an estimate because I worked with the guys wife. Anyway, he left an invoice in my mailbox... $175!!!!! The guy was here for less than 10 minutes. That's about 3x more than I expected to pay.

Kevin

Windows on Wash

01-05-2013 08:01 AM

That is less than many contractors would have charged.

Most will have minimums to get on a roof.

While the shingles may have only cost "X", insurance, access, equipment, etc., etc. all add to the cost of a project.

Until you own your own business it's hard to understand why things cost what they do. I don't think that is out of line especially when you figure in his health insurance, workman's comp, vehicle insurance, business insurance, fuel, risk of getting up on a roof, etc. And, let me add, small jobs still require a roofer to bring all his tools to the site, and maybe it took him an hour to load up from another job to get to your job. $175 was a small price to pay when you consider that you could have done the repair wrong and had a leak, or, you could have been laid up for months after a fall from the roof.

rossfingal

01-05-2013 09:08 AM

A few years ago:
I worked for a roofing/siding/window/door/gutter company.
I was a repairman/estimator/supervisor (one of them).
The going rate for me was -
$125 for the first hour -
$75/hour after that (not including materials)
(After 5 or 6 in the evening - You can't afford it!) :)
That was 15 to 20 years ago.
Most of the roofs we dealt with were 8/12 to 12/12 pitch - or steeper.

I love it when I'd show up with a $400.00 and a $200.00 ladder, a $1600.00 brake, a $20,000 truck, 2, pair of $58.00 snips and seamers, $80.00 roll of coil stock, $368.00 cutter for the coil stock, $268.00 reel to hold the the coil stock, two people just to replace one piece of coil stock at the peak of a roof and have them complain behind my back that there $200.00 bill was robbery.

ddawg16

01-05-2013 09:16 AM

Reminds me of a story.....

A factory had this big machine the produced most of the product. One day it broke down and the only guy who knew how to fix it was retired. So they called him up and asked him if he could come in and fix it. Just send them the bill afterwards.

He shows up....walks around the machine for about 10 minutes, then puts an X on one of the components and says "Replace that part"

A week later they get a bill for $2000. A bit shocked they wrote back requesting an itemized breakdown of the bill.

He responded.

$1 for the X
$1999 for knowing where to put the X.

rossfingal

01-05-2013 09:21 AM

Sometimes -
It's not what do -
It's because you know how to do it "right"! :)

joecaption

01-05-2013 09:27 AM

How many times have we shown up and can see someone has tryed to do it thereself to "save money" and seen things like roofing nails used to reattach a loose facia, the top of the shingle has been cut off, tar all over it to hold it in place.
The best one is when someone just lays the shingle right over what's there and uses a gal of tar to seal it.

bigchaz

01-05-2013 10:09 AM

AS others have mentioned, his cost of doing business includes all the things that have to be spread out over the cost of every job he does. The fixed costs if you will.

$175:

$75 to Uncle Sam
$10 for gas in the truck
$20 for labor being there
$20 for depreciation on ladders and tools
$20 for truck payment
$20 for insurance, business licenses, workers comp

$10 profit. If he's lucky. I'm guessing he probably lost money doing the job as a favor

jagans

01-05-2013 10:10 AM

Well what would it have cost if you fell off the roof, broke your back and ended up in the hospital for three or four months? It has nothing to do with the cost of the damn materials for gods sake.

You got a hell of a deal. I would have charged you $450.00 at least, but then I would have been there about an hour, because there is no way to do that right in ten minutes. you have to take off about 6 shingles to replace 1, then put them back and bib the holes.

DannyT

01-05-2013 10:16 AM

would YOU have done it for $175.00?? if it's something you don't want to do then almost any price is a deal.

snowenvy

01-05-2013 01:51 PM

$175 isn't bad if it was fixed

Whenever you have any professional look at your home, they need to be paid.

If people offer free estimates, their prices will be higher because they have to recoup the money paid out in time and gas for those estimates that turn out to be nothing.

I don't want to pay some plumber 100 bucks to look at my toilet and not fix it. So I would say 175 for three shingles isn't bad. $300 would be. But I think anything around $150/first hour, and $25 for three shingles isn't a bad price.

Always be cautious but don't undervalue someone's time and efforts as long as the fix really does fix the problem.

paintdrying

01-05-2013 04:01 PM

Out here insurance has gotten so high most guys will not even go on your roof for less than 150 dollars. For any type of repair you are looking at 300 bucks. There is the liability of him falling, as well as your roof ever leaking. As a policy, when people ask me if they paid to much I never will answer because I do not know the details of the deal. The fact that you did not want to do it yourself tells a lot right there. He did you a favor, he was only covering his costs. You honestly expect someone to even come over your house for 60 dollars. You are clueless as to the cost of things in the world, not even a local handyman would work that cheap.